Time Signatures Explained by a Composer
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- Опубліковано 16 чер 2024
- Time signatures can be really confusing. In this comprehensive fun tutorial, I will clarify everything for you in 15 minutes! For example, the difference between "like time signatures" that are mathematically identical (ex: 3/4 vs 6/8, or 2/2 vs 4/4). And what are beams in music? Do they have an importance at all?
The first half of this video is an explainer, and the second half will be ear training exercises. Stick around, because there is a fun surprise for you at the end of this video!
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Original works in this video
================
Composer: Peter
Title: Harvest Moon
URL: www.youngcomposers.com/t44993...
Composer: Johan
Title: Élegie for cello and piano
URL: www.youngcomposers.com/t45302...
Composer: Louis
Title: String Quartet - Miniature
URL: www.youngcomposers.com/t45311...
Composer: @alededwards2
Title: Apocalypse
URL: • Apocalypse
Composer: Elias
Title: After Rain
URL: www.youngcomposers.com/t44930...
Composer: @SorooshMhs
Title: Evergreen Waltz
URL: • Soroosh Mohassesi - Ev...
00:00 Time signatures can be really confusing
00:44 The role of beaming
01:25 Beams represent beats
03:42 Music Jotter
04:21 Significance of a beat
06:24 Ear Training Exercises
06:33 Peter's Harvest Moon
07:40 Johan's Elegie
09:06 Louis's String Quartet Miniature
09:35 Aled's Apocalypse
11:07 Elias's After Rain
13:02 Soroosh's Evergreen Waltz
13:48 Difference between 2/4 and 4/4
![What Is A Time Signature? [EXPLAINED]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hBh6DRYnCd0/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you so much for featuring my piece Evergreen Waltz in this video. I’m very flattered that you used something i composed as an example to explain this concept! Great video as well, very informative!
I sadly don’t have sheet music since that’s not how i compose. I almost always write in MIDI piano roll!
Of course! It was a perfect choice really, because your waltz had a clear 3/4 beat to it. I knew it was "the one" haha. And no worries about the sheet music, it forced us all to do a little better with ear training, including me.
@@musicjotter Happy to hear that! Yes, i deliberately wrote this as a Waltz so it has the 1&2&3 rhythm of 3/4 rather than the 123123 rhythm of 6/8 :)
Studio One has a feature where you can create the sheet music from the midi input
It's still a completely different type of software. My software is in the "music notation software" category, but accessible via the web. It also specializes in sheet music (and the art of composition using notation). Studio One is a DAW, where sheet music is secondary. With that said, Music Jotter could actually integrate with this software via virtual midi port technology. I've already tested and implemented integration with Kontakt, and I will actually demo this in my next video.
i always thought of signatures counted in a similar way to be the same in practice, but in terms of songwriting they have always been completely different
I find that the information around time signatures is rather unclear. This is why I decided to make this video. Time signatures are great for organizing your music, but in terms of performance, they can really change the way your music sounds.
Thanks for featuring my song on your channel. Good video as well!
Thank you, and not a problem! Nicely written song, and I enjoyed including it in this demonstration.
A very refreshing vibe for a youtube video on music. sincere and chill. Good luck with the music notation program, it looks good!
That's very kind of you to say. Thank you for watching.
thanks for your videos! very useful!
You are welcome, and thank you for watching!
Fun video, great examples
Thank you. All the examples were well composed!
Nice video explaining the time signatures!
Thanks Henry!
Thanks I think I understand it better now
great! subscribed.
Thank you!
Great video!
Thanks sharing!
Appreciate it very much, and I had a lot of fun making it. Thank you for watching :-)
My pleasure. I am not a music person per se, but I have ideas along those lines!
That was a lot clearer than most things I have seen on time signature. Maybe some more on odd time?
Appreciate it! The nature of my business with Music Jotter as a software requires me to "really" understand all of these details. This is especially true as I get us ready for playback.
What is still confusing is the fact that all 8th notes in 3/4 are grouped by 2s, but I often see them grouped in 6s. And in 4/4 time we often see 8th notes grouped in 4s. I read up about this, and the reason seems to be for "clarity purposes". There are no good explanations though in the music theory books I've read through.
A video on "odd time" is a great idea, and could be a part of this time signature series. The groupings of odd time such as 7/4 usually are grouped 2x2x3 or 3x2x2 which would yield 3 beats, but in different groupings. I'm not sure how many people would know this.
3/4 tells that are 3 times of quarter note, and 6/8 tells that are 2 times of quarter note + dot. so aren't the same bc one has times divisible by 2 and the other by triplets.
I did always think 2/4 was half of 4/4!
Gotta love music theory, where the rules of music are unapologetically cryptic.
@@musicjotter So, it's not just me?
No not at all. Even with theory books, things can still seem unclear. There are loads of rules and exceptions. For example, in 4/4 time there are 4 beats, so why can composers group 8th notes into 4s (which looks like 2 beats)? Similarly in 3/4 time which is simple time and therefore 3 beats, why do some composers beam all six 8th notes together?
Upon my research, the only clear answer I've seen is, that composers do this for organizational purposes only.